I slowed down the lightning initiation video and itβs clearly an upward strike. These ~5 frames taken from a 240fps clip represent about 20 milliseconds in real time. All this with a handheld cameraphone π€―
Begging physicists to recognise that being brilliant at one thing does not make you an expert on everything.
Tree blown over by strong winds
Tree blown over by strong winds
Tree blown over by strong winds
64.4 mph peak wind at my house in west Rapid City, SD last night. 4 trees down. Numerous pine trees down in the neighborhood with roof damage to at least 3 homes.
57 mph peak wind gust at my house in west Rapid City, SD at 1035 am, Dec 17th, 2025 (MST), 1735 UT.
Visualization of the Geminid meteor shower as seen from western South Dakota. youtu.be/E6TI9WoMCaM
Image showing meteors captured by Global Meteor Network camera during the night of Dec 13th, 2025. Southwest view from Rapid City, SD.
Image showing meteors captured by Global Meteor Network camera during the night of Dec 13th, 2025. North view from Rapid City, SD.
Image showing meteors captured by Global Meteor Network camera during the night of Dec 13th, 2025. South view from Quinn, SD.
Image showing meteors captured by Global Meteor Network camera during the night of Dec 13th, 2025. Northwest view from Quinn, SD.
Global Meteor Network detected meteor image stacks from last night. All 4 of these cameras are located in western South Dakota.
Lightning hitting a transformer near West, TX β notice the green glow?
645p CST
#TXwx
Thank you all for the hundreds of photo submissions! You can still submit your suspected FAE images to vledvina@alaska.edu for science purposes.
If you want to be more confident that what you captured is indeed an FAE and not proton aurora, see the flier attached here.
This is really cool to watch. Volcano and Tephranado dance. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FA9Q...
If you receive an illegal order, you have a duty to disobey.
This isnβt controversial.
A President calling for the execution of anyone who reminds service members of this oath is showing us why the duty to disobey illegal orders is so important in the first place.
BΓLIDO ESPORΓDICO ROZADOR #SPMN161125 SOBRE LAS PROVINCIAS DE #ΓVILA Y #SEGOVIA HOY a las 0h36m55s TUC (1h36 CET). Lo captΓ³ desintegrΓ‘ndose lentamente nuestro compaΓ±ero Miguel A. Furones @mafurones.bsky.social acabando su trazo sobre la #Liebre y #CanMayor. Al listado
www.ice.csic.es/news/citizen...
Live view looking South West from Rapid City, SD www.youtube.com/live/BCxK1QV...
Red aurora visible from Montauk, NY
Red aurora visible from Montauk, NY 755 pm ET (0055 UT, Nov 12th)
Spotted the northern lights on my flight from Denver to Chicago this evening!
"Science is being destroyed across many agencies" say federal researchers.
For my latest @nature.com piece, I spoke to 19 different scientists across EPA, NOAA, NIH, NASA, and USGS to document how science is being dismantled across US federal agencies.
"Science is an ongoing process. It never ends. There is no single ultimate truth to be achieved, after which all the scientists can retire."
-Carl Sagan, Cosmos
Cover of β233 Celsiusβ by Ray Bradbury
The first (1955) Danish edition of Ray Bradburyβs FAHRENHEIT 451. Later editions did not convert the title, so this is the only SI-compatible edition! π’
THEY. WERE. DOING. THIS. WITHOUT. PAY.
NOAAβs hurricane hunter pilots (and Kermit The Frog hanging from the control panel) fly into Hurricane Melissa.
Extraordinary bravery, saving lives.
(π₯ Cmdr. Danielle Varwig, NOAA Corps).
Obvious wavenumber-5 mesovortex pattern within #Melissaβs eyewall earlier today β when the simulation matches reality. Just two decades ago, the very existence of mesovortices was still a matter of debate.
Did I mention I hate thunderfog? www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCxK...
I hate thunderfog
βIf it hits you, itβs just not your day.β
90% of people struck by lightning survive but many have lifelong injuries. We still see around 20 deaths from lightning every year in the U.S.
Weβve seen 5 deaths in the U.S. in September alone.
Being struck by lightning isnβt a minor thing. We shouldnβt be making light of safety measures.
We estimate than 10 people are impacted when someone is struck by lightning (friends, relatives, coworkers).
For the ~200 people who are struck each year in the U.S., that means 2,000 more people are impacted in some way - from losing a loved one or having to care for them long term.
The U.S. used to have 400-500 lightning fatalities a year. Globally, we see 24,000 fatalities a year from lightning - many of them occurring at sporting events.
Really shameful to see this on Big Noon Kickoff.
Two hunters and their dogs in Florida were killed by lightning on Monday September 22. These are now 3 fatalities in Florida this year.
Four hunters have died this month due to lightning strikes, and there are now 19 lightning fatalities in the U.S. for 2025.
www.wfla.com/news/highlan...
Incredible Sprite feast over Italy last night as seen by Global Meteor Network camera in Croatia. #sprite #lightning globalmeteornetwork.org/weblog//HR/H...
Incredible +CG flash!! Negative leaders propagate right to left incloud, then a positive leader develops downward from the decaying negative leader causing a +CG return stroke. Positive leaders with recoil leaders visible below cloud base following the return stroke.
30 second exposure (3x 10 sec) with multiple lightning strikes in the background and red and blue lights from a 1st responder vehicle as it races to the Badlands boondock where high winds rolled a camping trailer.
Things got pretty intense in the South Dakota Badlands last night. 60+ mph winds rolled a camping trailer at the boondock. Here is an image of 1st responders rushing to the scene with lightning still hammering the area.
